Roh Morgon's Blog, page 9

~blazing nightmare

(this is an updated post from June 27, 2012)

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Sunny’s Colorado home, the mountain she loved so much, is burning.

Photo taken by L.N. Batides June 26, 2012 from Briargate in the Colorado Springs area . Used with permission.

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Photo taken by Dan Martinez June 26, 2012 near western part of Colorado Springs. Used with permission.

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Worse yet, the homes of Colorado Springs area residents are also burning.

Over 15,000 acres of forest have burned. Hundreds of homes have been lost, and more than 32,000 people have been evacuated.

I cannot imagine the fear of losing everything to a roaring inferno, nor grasp the impact of watching your home, your hopes and dreams, burn to the ground.

Photo taken by J. Stewart on Night 4 of the Waldo Canyon fire. Used with permission.

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However, I can feel perhaps a glimmer of the pain, both of those who are living this real-life nightmare, and as someone who spent time on Sunny’s special mountain during a particularly troubled part of  my life.

My heart goes out to all those who’ve lost their homes and lives in this tragedy – human, wildlife, and the forest itself.

~ ~ ~

This is the first post in a series I’m doing on the Waldo Canyon fire and its impact on Colorado Springs area residents.

I’d like to thank Springs locals Dan Martinez, J. Stewart, and L.N. Batides for the kind use of their photos.

My next post will give you a glimpse of what some of the area looked like before the fire, as well as some of the devastation documented by local residents and photographers, so be sure to check back.

I’ll also provide links for those of you who would like to donate to the ongoing recovery efforts. There’s lots of ways to help. Not only do the victims who lost their homes need assistance, so do the animal shelters caring for the hundreds of displaced pets as well as the local fire stations who exhausted their resources fighting this ’superfire’.

My own resources are somewhat limited, and since I live about 1,200 miles away, there’s not much I can do to help with the cleanup.

However, I do write. Since Pikes Peak and the Colorado Springs area were such important parts of my novel, Watcher: Book I of The Chosen, I’ve decided to donate 50% of its net proceeds thru the end of October to help those suffering from this catastrophe.

I encourage any other artists out there to consider doing the same. Every little bit helps.

My last thought for the day:

Be grateful for what you have, because it can be gone with one wisp of smoke.

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~Sunny’s mountain

As a follow up to my posts on the Waldo Springs fire, here’s a scene from Watcher: Book I of The Chosen. It’s the first time Sunny meets her mountain.

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My new home, nestled at the base of a mountain, is in the tiny town of Cascade, west of Colorado Springs. It’s bordered on all sides by the Pike National Forest. No more ‘eating out’—I can enjoy my meals right in my own backyard. It couldn’t be more perfect.

The sun slides beneath the western horizon and I open the back door and head up the mountain. The early April air is cold and patches of snow hug the ground. I walk slowly, savoring the exotic scents of my new home. The tapestry of fragrances, dominated by pines, firs, and unfamiliar shrubs, is unlike that of California mountains, and the variety of animal smells is rich and tantalizing.

Deepening darkness cloaks me as pine needles crunch beneath my feet, and I smile at the sounds of small mammals scurrying for cover from the predator moving in their midst. The hunter whines, but makes no attempt to give chase.

Moving up the slope, I’m struck by the magnificence of the night. The moon is full and its light reflects off of the snow-covered mountainsides, the soaring peaks shimmering as they reach toward the stars. The trees sparkle in their frosty blankets and the air is crisp and refreshing. I drink in my surroundings and experience a rare moment of feeling that I am exactly where I’m supposed to be.

An unusual scent catches my attention, and following it, I discover a huge porcupine lumbering across a clearing. It glances toward me, snarling, and rattles its quills. As fascinated as I am by the creature and how it might taste, I heed its warning. Perhaps another time. Tonight I’m after something bigger and less prickly.

I skirt the clearing and work my way through the trees, heading uphill. Scenting a herd of deer across the slope I hesitate, the beast growling in impatience. But I want to keep my edge, and since the evening is young, I continue up the slope.

Above the tree line now, I become aware of something in the sky behind me, and turn around. I stop and stare in amazement at Pikes Peak looming, godlike, over its dominion, its snowy flanks glowing in the full moon.  It stands alone, dwarfing the surrounding mountains and landscape. I stand in awe, feeling humbled in its presence. I reflect over my life, and what brought me here, and somehow feel like I’ve been summoned. By what, I do not know.

~ ~ ~

~before and after

I just can’t stop thinking about the devastation and loss of life caused by the Waldo Canyon fire in  Colorado Springs and the surrounding mountains, an area I left 35 years ago. It used to look like this:

I spent two years in the Springs and the neighboring communities of Manitou Springs, Green Mountain Falls, and Cascade. Just out of high school, my life was wild and carefree and filled with adventures. I loved the Pikes Peak mountain area and have always dreamed of returning someday.

Writers frequently use settings with which they are familiar. So when I began writing Sunny’s journey in January 2009, it seemed only natural that she would head to such an ideal location for someone of her unique nature.

As she drew me into her story, the sound of the wind in the trees echoed in my mind, and my nose filled with the fresh scents of pines and summer storms. I typed, fast and furious, knowing I was only capturing a fraction of the nuances that made up her world, and hoped my memory of the area wasn’t too rusty and faded.

And then in May 2009, when Watcher was nearly complete, I had a rare opportunity to visit the Springs while in Colorado on business. It would be my first visit in 35 years.

My friend Jeanne, with whom I’d first ventured to that magical land so many years before, still lived there. It felt like old times as we set off together to visit the locations in the story, to see if everything was as I recalled it.

And, surprisingly, it was. Even the Cascade house in which I’d lived, empty the day we visited, looked exactly as it did when I moved out. We tromped though old stomping grounds and made new discoveries (and found a castle!) and had an amazing time retracing Sunny’s steps.

It was with great sadness that I said farewell to Jeanne and Pikes Peak, promising I would return again when I had more time. The first draft of Watcher was completed two weeks later.

~~~

Now the area looks nothing like it did 35 years ago, or even three years ago. Sunny’s mountain and hunting area behind her house were completely destroyed by the Waldo Canyon fire.

But worse, people lost their homes, their pets, their family heirlooms – they lost everything they owned.

And two people lost their lives.

 

I’d actually been contemplating making a road trip to the Springs when I heard the news about the fire. It started June 23, and over the next two-and-a-half weeks, over 32,000 people were evacuated, more than 18,000 acres burned, 346 homes lost, and two people died. The estimated cost of this fire alone is $352.6 million dollars, making it the most expensive in Colorado’s history.

I can only imagine a glimmer of  how those families must be feeling as they cope with their losses. My heart goes out to them, as well as to the forest and the creatures that it fed and sheltered.

I don’t know if I’ll make that trip now. I can’t bear to see those mountains covered in ash, dotted with the black skeletons of trees and brush. Unfortunately, my imagination does paint a vivid picture of that scene, but I know it’s nothing compared to the real thing.

~blazing nightmare

Sunny’s Colorado home, the mountain she loved so much, is burning.

(The red area is the acreage burnt or in flames as of noon Wednesday, June 27).

Worse yet, the homes of Colorado Springs area residents are also burning.

Over 15,000 acres of forest have burned. Dozens of homes have been lost, and more than 32,000 people have been evacuated.

I cannot imagine the fear of losing everything to a roaring inferno, nor grasp the impact of watching your home, your hopes and dreams, burn to the ground.

However, I can feel perhaps a glimmer of the pain, both of those who are living this real-life nightmare, and as someone who spent time on Sunny’s special mountain during a particularly-troubled part of  her life.

My heart goes out to all those who’ve lost their homes and lives in this tragedy – human, wildlife, and the forest itself.

~editing tools

Just came across this on a blog:

Autocrit.

This online editing software will check your manuscript for overused and repeated words, overused phrases, cliches, pacing, and a few other common writing mistakes.

I ran several pages through the free wizard and was pleasantly surprised at the results.

Autocrit’s checklist of overused words showed I was guilty of a few and highlighted them in my text. The highlights made it easy for me to spot the offenders and allowed me to choose whether to change the sentence or not. It also enabled me to spot passive or weak sentences by highlighting words such as ‘was’ and ‘it’.

The sentence variation tab provided a histogram of sentence lengths, as well as word count. This is a nice tool.

Cliches and redundancies were also revealed. My text contained one cliche and no redundancies.

A number of other diagnostic tools and reports are offered in the packages available for purchase, including the ability to customize the overused words list.

I like the idea and ease of checking for these common errors myself before sending a manuscript to a human editor. Autocrit may also turn out to be a good teaching tool, and I suspect my writing will improve with its use.

Autocrit is membership-based. In addition to the free wizard (which has limits in both tool options and word count), the membership packages range in price from $47 to $117 per year, depending mainly upon word count.

There are other editing software packages out there, but I found nothing comparable. Autocrit is highly recommended on a number of sites.

I’m planning to purchase an Autocrit membership. I recommend you check it out.

~recap: world horror convention 2012

For those of you who missed my Facebook posts, here’s a recap of the 2012 World Horror Convention and the Bram Stoker Awards:

Wow. All I can say is…  it was fantastic!

Thursday, Day 1 – WHC officially started at 3:00pm. I attended panels on social networking and promoting your books on Amazon.

Highlight of the evening: participating in poetry readings with several well-known horror poets, including Linda D Addison, who later won the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection for How to Recognize a Demon Has Become Your Friend.

Linda Addison with her Stoker for Best Poetry Collection

Parties: First party of the con was hosted by Cutting Block Press and KillerCon

Friday, Day 2 – Started the day off with a reading by my friend PS Gifford (go Paul!). Attended some great panels: ‘Understanding the Mind of a Serial Killer’ by Dr. Al Carlisle (creepy yet fascinating), ‘Q&A with Guest of Honor Sherrilyn Kenyon (what a sweet and funny lady!), and ‘Women in Horror’ with Sherrilyn, Ellen Datlow, Lisa Morton, P.N. Elrod, and Kim Richards.

Highlights of the day: dinner with my co-panelists Jacob Ruby (Bear Weiter) and J. Scott Savage, and the mass autograph signing with…everyone!

Hal Bodner & Dacre Stoker, great grandnephew of Bram Stoker

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Sherrilyn Kenyon with her assistant, Kim

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Hangin’ out with the big kids

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Parties: Friday was the big party night, with three hosted by Dark Moon Digest, Damnation Books, and Evil Jester Press.

Saturday, Day 3 – My day started with a reading by David Farland from his newly-released Nightingale. This story sounds so cool – can’t wait to tear into my signed copy!

Panels I attended this day: Stoker on Stoker with Dacre Stoker presenting his just released The Lost Journal of Bram Stoker (very cool stuff); ‘Vampires Through the Ages’ (like I’d miss this one?); ‘Real vs. Fictional Multiple Personalities’ (more creepy real stuff from Dr. Al Carlisle); and a ‘kaffeeklatch’ (think roundtable discussion) with P.N. Elrod (fascinating lady).

Highlights? My 5:00pm reading, where I read excerpts from Watcher. I love doing readings!

And oh, yeah… the Bram Stoker Awards Banquet! It was massively awesome! I sat with David Farland and his wife, Mary (she’s so sweet!) for the dinner and ceremonies.

Several friends (both old and new) won awards: Nancy Holder, for her YA novel, The Screaming Season; Linda D Addison for her poetry collection How to Recognize a Demon Has Become Your Friend; and Rocky Wood, for his nonfiction work, Stephen King: A Literary Companion.

Nancy Holder with her Stoker for Best Young Adult Novel

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The Bram Stoker Winners

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Congratulations to these and all of the other winners!

One last award to mention: A special, one-time only award for The Most Influential Vampire Novel of the Century (since Bram Stoker’s death) was given to Richard Matheson for his 1954 novel, I Am Legend.

The ‘Black Stoker’ Award for Best Vampire Novel of the Century

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** Personal note – Though I am no expert on vampire literature and its impact on society, I was a little disappointed that the book with the most influence on me and many others, Anne Rice’s Interview With a Vampire, was not chosen. I much prefer Rice’s chameleon-like seducers to Matheson’s zombified, mindless killing machines. To me, Rice’s vampires more accurately embody the spirit of the Dracula mythology, and the subtle horror of a monster hidden beneath a suave and polished exterior is far more terrifying than a slavering walking corpse.

Parties: The Stoker Awards party continued in the con suite after the banquet. It was so cool to see everyone running around with their haunted house statues!

Sunday, Day 4 – The Last Day!  Uggh, I hate last days.

Sunday got off to a slow start with many folks recovering from Saturday night’s parties. My day began with the panel The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly in Cover Art with a cool slide show. Then I just wandered about the con until my panel at noon.

It was called ‘Scaring ‘em Young: Middle Grade Horror’, and my co-panelists were Jacob Ruby (Bear Weiter) and J. Scott Savage. Bear had assembled a great list of discussion items and led the panel. Jeff, who has the most experience writing MG, was a wealth of knowledge, and I just chimed in when needed. It was a great panel (my very first!) and I had a lot of fun. I own much thanks to Bear and Jeff for making it so.

The con sadly ended at 3:00pm, though a number of folks stayed afterwards for the ‘Dead Dog Party’.

Highlight of the WHC 2012?  Meeting so many awesome people with whom I felt instantly at home. I mean, I didn’t feel any embarrassment at all about writing vampire fiction, because chances were whomever I was speaking with had written it as well, or at least written about zombies, demons, or the stuff of nightmares.

And I kept meeting people, right up until I left, like Cynthia Vespia (at the Dead Dog Party) and Angel Leigh McCoy (in the shuttle to the airport!).

Overall, this was the best con I’ve been to since my writing career began. I truly feel like I belong when I’m with this group of writers whose works get relegated to fringes of literary society. Being on the fringe can be lonely, but not when in the company of other fringe-ers!

~world horror convention

Yup. That's where I'm headed!

Salt Lake City is hosting both the World Horror Convention and the Bram Stoker Awards this year.

It's super exciting for me, because this is my first WHC, and, though I enjoyed hanging out with fantasy writers at World Fantasy Con (Oct '11), I think I fit in much better with horror folk.

I mean, this is one convention where I won't feel a bit embarrassed to admit that I write vampire stories, 'cuz chances are whoever I'm talking to at this con will have written one or two themselves!

This year's lineup of guests is pretty impressive, and includes well-known writers such as Sherrilyn Kenyon, P.N. Elrod, and Robert McCammon. Dacre Stoker will be there as well – his panel on Bram Stoker's notes and research sounds fascinating.

I'm looking forward to seeing another guest whom I actually met last year when I attended his week-long workshop –   Dave Farland. He's on several panels, and I hope to catch at least one of them.

I'm on a panel myself! It's called "Scaring 'em Young:  Middle Grade Horror." My co-panelists and I are working out our topics, and it looks like it will be a fun panel. It's on Sunday at noon.

I'm also participating in the autograph session Friday night, and doing a reading on Saturday.

So not only am I attending the con, I'm part of it as well!

If any of you happen to be in Salt Lake City this weekend, stop by and say 'hi.'

And now I'm off to pack…

~ break

 

Life has a habit of taking unexpected turns.

This blog will be on break for the next few weeks.

~and the winner is…

Sue Mydliak!

Sue is the winner of an e-book copy of  Watcher: Book I of The Chosen in the Bloody Hearts Blog Hop!

All visitors to my blog during the Hop who answered the question about their favorite vampire were entered into a drawing for an e-copy of Watcher. The winner was selected using the online randomizer by RANDOM.ORG.

And who was Sue's favorite vampire? Laurant from Twilight (the movie), who was one of the coolest vampires in that film.

Congratulations on winning, Sue!

~bloody hearts blog hop Feb 13-14

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Sounds kinda gross, huh?

Well, for those who like their fiction fanged, or dark, or maybe even horrifying, today and tomorrow is the Bloody Hearts Blog Hop, sponsored by Vamplit Publishing. This is your chance to discover new authors of dark fantasy and horror by visiting blogs participating in the hop. Most of the blogs are offering free books and other goodies. I encourage you to visit the blog hop site and check out all the cool happenings.

Visitors to my blog during the Hop (Feb 13-14) who answer the question below in a comment will each receive an e-book copy of The Last Trace.

In addition, all commenters will be entered into a random drawing for a free e-book copy of Watcher: Book I of The Chosen.

But before I reveal the question you must answer to receive a copy of The Last Trace, here's a little bit about me in case this is the first time you've visited my blog:

I write fantasy and horror for middle grade, young adult, and adult readers. Most of my stories center around the paranormal, with worlds inhabited by vampires, shapeshifters, werewolves, and other creatures of their ilk.

My published works at this time are, with one exception, all adult fiction.

Watcher: Book I of The Chosen, is the first novel in a trilogy about Sunny Martin and her struggle to find her place in the world after she's drained of her blood and awakens as an undead, forcing her to abandon her teenage daughter. In Watcher, Sunny's search leads her to Colorado where she meets Nicolas, the enigmatic leader of a secret society, and discovers something she thought impossible in her new life – love. But it comes with a high price, and a choice she's terrified to make.

Watcher is available in both paperback and e-book, and one e-book copy will be given away in a random drawing as part of this blog hop.

Runner: Book II of The Chosen, is scheduled to be released in late Spring 2012.

The Last Trace is a novella of The Chosen and tells the story of Trace Pierre Tasman, an 1800s mountain man stalked by a blood-drinking 'she-demon'. His story continues in Without a Trace, scheduled for release in Fall 2012. The Last Trace is available as an e-book, and will be available in paperback in March – oh, and it's the free e-book you'll receive when you answer the question at the bottom of this post!

The Seduction and The Monster's Growl are the first two tales in the Monsters in the Machines short story collection and are available as e-books. The third story in the collection, Hellbound Train, will be available in Summer 2012.

My young adult series, Forbidden Doorways, is currently in development. The first novel, Finding the Key, will be available in 2013. A short story from the series, Fur Before Feathers, tells the tale of a young shapeshifter learning to shift, and can be found in the 2010 anthology, I Dreamed a Crooked Dream.

More information on my works, as well as excerpts, can be found on my website, www.rohmorgon.com, and at Dark Dreams Publishing. And if you want to know a little bit more about me, you can check out my writer's bio!

Now, for the question I've been promising you:

Who is your favorite vampire in literature or film (or both!)?

Include your answer in a comment, as well as your preferred e-book format (Kindle, Nook, etc) and I'll send you an e-book copy of The Last Trace.

And as I mentioned before, everyone who leaves a comment will be entered into a drawing for a free e-book copy of Watcher: Book I of The Chosen.

Thanks for stopping by my blog, and be sure to check out some of the other bloggers participating in the Bloody Hearts Blog Hop.

Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day!